DUNELLEN — Being a Dunellen borough councilman isn’t a full-time job. But people in town said Frank Bieniek made it one.

He gained a reputation for spending his retired years as a public servant who was always visible around the tiny Middlesex County town.
Now, the challenge is finding someone to replace him.

Bieniek, the council president, was in the middle of his fifth term in office when he died Sunday of natural causes at age 75.

“Frank was always there for everybody,” Dunellen Mayor Robert Seader said today. “He loved this town. He loved the people.”

Because Bieniek was the lone Democrat on the council, the local Democratic party is charged with presenting three candidates for his seat.

The council will then chose one of them to fill the final year of Bieniek’s term on the six-member council that governs the square-mile borough of 7,000 residents. The council will also pick a new president.

Bieniek grew up in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., but moved to Dunellen 50 years ago for work. He was a sales manager for Two Guys department store and later ran his own catering business.

In 1977, Bieniek won a seat on the Dunellen school board. In 1996, he was elected to his first term on the Dunellen council.

Bieniek was also a past president of the Dunellen Polish Home, an assistant manager at the borough’s Knights of Columbus hall and was active in the town’s youth sports programs.

The mayor said Dunellen’s Veterans Day ceremony yesterday drew one of its largest crowds because people wanted to pay their respects to Bieniek, a Marine who fought in the Korean War.

“He believed in country, community, family,” son John Bieniek said. “There should be more people like that.”

Bieniek is survived by two other sons, Frank and Mark; one daughter, Denise; and three grandchildren. His wife, Barbara died last year.